Student Television Network Competition

This half-hour documentary captures the experience of Hawai‘i’s HIKI NŌ schools at a national digital video competition through the eyes of students from Kaua‘i’s Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School. The 2016 Student Television Network Competition took place in Atlanta, Georgia, and brought together thousands of middle and high school students from across the country to compete in time-intensive, deadline-driven contests in the production of news features, anchor presentations, short films, public service announcements and other forms of visual storytelling. Although the Chiefess students went to Atlanta with the intention of winning, the lessons they learned along the way, including teamwork, collaboration, grace under pressure, and the importance of friendship, were more valuable than the awards they took home. The Hawai‘i schools combined took home 34 awards and cheered for one another as one team (Team Hawai‘i) during the awards ceremony.

“ALOHA ATLANTA: HIKI NŌ AT THE STUDENT TELEVISION NETWORK COMPETITION”
PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 15 AT 7:30 PM ON PBS HAWAI‘I

HONOLULU, HI – For a student from Kaua‘i, what’s it like to compete against other teenagers across the country, on the other side of the country? This experience is captured in a new PBS Hawai‘i documentary. Aloha Atlanta: HIKI NŌ at the Student Television Network Competition premieres Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 pm on PBS Hawai‘i. It will be online at pbshawaii.org after the broadcast premiere.

Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students are elated after learning they took first place in the Middle School PSA category at the Student Television Network Convention last March in Atlanta, GA. Photo: PBS Hawai‘i

The half-hour documentary follows students from Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School in Lihu‘e, Kaua‘i, as they compete at the Student Television Network Convention, held last March in Atlanta, GA. Over three days, several thousand middle and high school students from across the U.S. compete in deadline-intensive competitions in digital media categories such as news stories, anchor presentations, short films and public service announcements.

For the past few years, Hawai‘i schools have been the ones to beat at the annual convention. Last March, participating Hawai‘i schools took home 34 awards, including 14 first-place trophies, after competing against students from states including California, New York and Florida.

Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School teacher Kevin Matsunaga (in blue shirt) looks on as his students scramble to meet a deadline. Photo: PBS Hawai‘i

The documentary follows the students as they’re under intense stress to meet on-site competition deadlines. “In the last minutes, everyone’s screaming at each other,” says Chiefess seventh grader Taylor Nishimoto. “That’s when all of the nerves come out and we’re all just exploding.”

The program also highlights the camaraderie between the Hawai‘i schools, the only state that sits together at the awards ceremony. “If another school from Hawai‘i beats us, they’re still our family, and we still cheer them on,” Taylor says.

“We are all from Hawai‘i,” says Chiefess eighth grader Kallen Wachi. “We are all as one team.”

The students say that the reasons they attend the STN Convention extend beyond competition. “It’s the many wonderful life’s lessons you can learn from this challenge,” says Kaycee. “You learn how to handle stress, you learn how to work with others and cooperate with them.”

“Getting along is really important,” says Chiefess eighth grader Nicole Matsushige. “Later on in life, I’m gonna have to know how to work with my co-workers and other people.”

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